Horschel Named Division I PING All-American
Monday, June 1, 2009 | Men's Golf
University of Florida senior golfer Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) was named to the Division I PING All-America First Team for the 2008-09 season, announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America over the weekend. It is the fourth year that Horschel has earned All-America honors and the third time that he was named to the First Team.
Horshel became the fifth Gator golfer to be named an All-American four times. Matt Every, Gary Koch and Camilo Villegas are the only other UF alumni to earn First Team honors three times, and Horschel is the only Gator to earn three First Team honors and a Second Team honor. Every earned Honorable Mention All-America honors as a freshman, while Villegas was a Third Team selection his junior season. Koch did not earn All-America honors his freshman season.
“I'm extremely happy for Billy,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “He's worked hard and he deserves this. Of the guys that I've coached he's the most decorated player that I've ever had, earning First Team All-America honors three times and Second Team honors once. He has certainly been a great player for the Gators.”
Horschel was also named the SEC Golfer of the Year and was a unanimous first-team All-SEC selection in the coaches' voting. Horschel joined Koch as the only two players in Florida golf history to earn first-team honors four times.
Horschel led the SEC in scoring average this season, averaging 71.28 strokes per round. He placed in the top seven in eight of 11 tournaments this season. He shot par-or-better in 21 of his 32 rounds and he finished the season ranked ninth in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index Ratings. He was the individual medalist at the SEC Championships and was the runner-up at the NCAA Southwest Regional in Austin, Texas. Horschel was also a semifinalist for the 2009 Ben Hogan Award, college golf's most prestigious award.
Other First-Team honorees were Jorge Campillo of Indiana, Rickie Fowler and Morgan Hoffmann of Oklahoma State, Southern California's Matthew Giles, Matt Hill of NC State, Kyle Stanley of Clemson, Washington's Nick Taylor, Cameron Tringale of Georgia Tech and Marquette's Mike Van Sickle.
Division I PING All-America First Team
Jorge Campillo, Indiana
Rickie Fowler, Oklahoma State
Matthew Giles, Southern California
Matt Hill, NC State
Morgan Hoffmann, Oklahoma State
Billy Horschel, FLORIDA
Kyle Stanley, Clemson
Nick Taylor, Washington
Cameron Tringale, Georgia Tech
Mike Van Sickle, Marquette
- UF -
